Dead Is Forever
by Yodes
Summary: She was one of the last he found and the first he loved. An 09 escapee's story, Vada's story.
1. About A Girl

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Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel or the character of Vada. Vada's character was taken from the Dark Angel book 'Before the Dawn' by Max Allan Collins. This is just my view of what she could've been like.

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A/N: Once upon a time, I was reading a book called 'Before the Dawn'. In it, an X5 named Vada was mentioned by Lydecker. I decided because little was known about her, I'd fill in the blanks with some possible answers. This is what I came up with. I hope you like it.

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Summary: Following orders was what she was meant to do. She was one of the best that escaped that night. She was the quiet one. The big sister after Eva. She had been the protector- the one the younger ones went to hide behind when Zack wasn't there. She was one of the last he found and the first he loved. This is Vada's story.

Rating: PG-13

Type: WIP

Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Romance.

Pairing: Vada/ Zack

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Dead Is Forever

By Yodes

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Prologue: About A Girl

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'Catch me as I fall

Say you're here and it's all over now

Speaking to the atmosphere

No one's here and I fall into myself

This truth drives me into madness

I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away''

- Evanescence (Whisper)

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"Live fast, die young, right? That's what they say in the movies. Live fast, die young, leave a good lookin' corpse. Be remembered as a hero, a martyr, someone who fought to the end and never gave up. Yeah, right. In real life it doesn't quite work out that way."

X

She blurs through the snow, zigzagging and hiding behind trees and bushes when she hears the enemy move close. She sees the others moving as she was, through the trees at an impossible speed, the sound of their running feet barely audible over the sound of guns, snowmobiles and radios crackling.

Even though she was running for her life, Vada smiled. She was a trained soldier, trained from birth. A super soldier. Human, hawk, leopard and a few other animals mixed into her DNA. On foot, or on snowmobiles, humans didn't stand a chance. Of course, they also had guns, tazers, laser sights and night scopes. Vada's smile disappeared. They wouldn't have long to escape.

She makes it to the gathering point, slipping into the small clearing amongst the shadows to see that several of the others were already there.

She meet Zack's eyes for a second, giving him a small nod before turning to watch the way she had just entered

X

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"The escape was Zack's idea. It was one of the best ideas he'd ever had. Those of us who had escaped all loved him for giving us that choice. I guess I loved him more than most."

X

The engine roared in her ears, a steady familiar sound that relaxed her, made her smile. The other bikes around her were like a distant dream, never managing to get into the forefront of her vision. Vada knew she was going to win. This was what it was all about. Money, freedom, living fast. The smile turned feral as she skidded around the corner. They stood no chance.

X

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"He told me once that I was one of the last he found. Max was still missing at the time, but everyone else had been located. He'd told me that he was proud of the way I'd turned out, even if I did go around bike racing whenever I got the chance. He used to laugh and said it was an X5 trait- living fast. That night he told me so many things…"

X

The sound of the gun going off seemed to take an extra second to be registered by her brain. By then, she was already falling. Falling like the moment would last forever, giving her time to think, to see thinks clearly for what they were. Vada had been shot in the chest, she knew that now, as the pain began to make it's sudden way through her body, she could feel the dampness on her chest- her blood leaving her body.

She knew then that she would never see Zack again, never hear him laugh, never see him smile at her again. She knew now that this was the end. Dead was forever, there was no escaping that.

X

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"He told me so many things, about his hopes, about his dreams. That boy always knew how to make me smile. He gave my life a new meaning. I just wish that I could've done the same for him…but then, this story isn't about him. It's about my life and what I did with it. It's about life and death, and all of the things that come between and after it. It's about a soldier trying to create a life for herself. It's about me."


	2. In The Still Of The Night

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A/N: Okay, in this chapter Seth is mentioned. At this point, Vada believes that he didn't make it out.

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Chapter 1: In The Still Of The Night

'It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something numb

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone'

-Linkin Park (Easier To Run)

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She was 11 years old when they escaped. 11 years old and innocent in the ways of the 'Ordinary' world except for the little bit of information Manticore had deemed necessary for them to know. Genetically engineered child soldiers weren't meant for the real world. They weren't meant to have lives, to feel emotion, to live… free.

But that is exactly what happened. At least for a little while anyway.

X5-732 was 11 years old when they escaped. Their youngest sister- Max, had had a seizure like Jack had. The guard had spotted it and came to take her away. Zack had reacted like any protector would. He fought him. Knocked him out. Eva was the one to take his gun and take point.

She was the first to die that night. Killed by a bullet through the heart, shot from a gun held by the person they were meant to look up to, to respect, fear and never disobey. They disobeyed that night. That night the decision was made for them. They ran.

12 of them made it out. Only 12. 13 if you counted Zack. Even then, it wasn't much. Originally, there were meant to be 26 in their unit. Danny had been accidentally shot by Syl as she fired at a raven. Jack was taken away to be dissected. Jace chose to stay behind. That meant 9 of them hadn't made it. 9 of them had been captured or killed.

Syl had been paired with Krit. Tinga with Brin. Max with Jondy. Zane with Ben. Kavi with Blake. Vada had been paired up with Seth. This wasn't surprising. They tended to train together a lot. Vada was very good at hand-to-hand combat. Hell, they all were, but Vada was the only female besides Eva to have stood a chance against either Zack or Seth. Vada could fight like an animal. She would go from controlled military techniques to unpredictable animal in a second. That was what kept Seth, Eva and Zack on guard when they fought her. Vada was a good soldier. She tried to stick to the rules unless the others did something against them. Vada didn't cause trouble. She was quiet. Strong. She was one of the protectors. The big sister after Eva. She was one of the ones the young ones went to to hide behind when Zack wasn't there. Except, the night of the escape, there was only her and Seth to look after. And Seth didn't make it.

The snow was a white blur beneath her feet, cold and hard at the same time. When her bare feet hit the snow, it was like small pins were being shoved up into the soles of her feet, sending sharp shocks of pain up her legs. Vada had never liked the snow. She liked the rain. She liked Summer rain best, except when they made them do live drills in them. Nothing like bullets and shrapnel flying over your head to ruin the mood.

She'd been one of the last out the window, making sure the others got out before giving Jace one last look, one filled with understanding and sorrow- her own version of a goodbye, before she launched herself through the broken glass to land on her feet and blur away, moving in the direction the others had headed.

She manages to make it to the tree line before she encounters her first close call.

It was the crunch of boots on icy snow that warned her.

She launches herself up into a tree in one leap as she hears one of the enemy moving dangerously close. She looks down at his covered head as he moves beneath the tree, his M16 ready, his radio crackling like an angry insect.

Vada crouches in her hiding spot, preparing herself to jump down and snap his neck. She holds her breath.

The soldier pauses, his eyes darting this way and that behind his night vision goggles, scanning the area but he sees nothing. His own tracks have crossed over Vada's making them indistinguishable from his own footprints. He moves on cautiously and Vada jumps silently from the branches to head on her way again. They'd had a plan for escaping for a few days now. She knew where she had to go.

She blurs through the snow, zigzagging and hiding behind trees and bushes when she hears the enemy move close. She sees the others moving as she was, through the trees at an impossible speed, the sound of their running feet barely audible over the sound of guns, snowmobiles and radios crackling.

Even though she was running for her life, Vada smiled. She was a trained soldier, trained from birth. A super soldier. Human, hawk, leopard and a few other animals mixed into her DNA. On foot, or on snowmobiles, humans didn't stand a chance. Of course, they also had guns, tazers, laser sights and night scopes. Vada's smile disappeared. They wouldn't have long to escape.

She makes it to the gathering point, slipping into the small clearing amongst the shadows to see that several of the others were already there.

She meet Zack's eyes for a second, giving him a small nod before turning to watch the way she had just entered.

This would be the last time she would see this many of her unit together at one time. Too many died or were recaptured that night. Too many died over the years that followed. It was a part of what she contained in herself, in that dark place. The same place where images of death were stored. The same place she put the memories of torture, torture she'd endured. It would be there for the rest of her life- that darkness. It was a part of who she was. A killer. A soldier. A predator. A child innocent in the ways of the world. Of course, this innocence didn't last long. No, Vada grew up fast on the world outside, but, no matter how much she learned, how much she tried to understand her existence, that darkness remained within her throughout it all. But it was that darkness, that place inside herself, that kept her who she was. It kept her alive.


End file.
